Basic food hygiene?

When I was working in Asda about 30 years ago I queried the fact that the staff preparing the pizza toppings didn't wear gloves. I was told that they had found that people who didn't wear gloves washed much more often. People wearing gloves seemed to take it for granted that the gloves were hygienic even if they didn't wash.

mabon2

Don't go to Mac Donalds,easy peasy.

I find stores where food is on display for people to select and bag themselves more off putting, Sainsburys and M and S for example. The food items such as bread and pastries are on a level where numerous people can get close to them, touch them and even cough over them. I avoid them like the plague as I do buffets.

Unless they change the gloves constantly , I can't see how that would make food preparation any more hygienic than frequent hand washing - less so if anything.

No judgement from me about having the occasional McD's either!

same unwashed hands went in to to same container of salt to season the cooked mash before serving.

Well, that's OK, then. Salt creates an environment that bacteria cannot live in.

I do agree though, that the process described in your post, Grannynannywanny is gross when it comes to handling cooked meat after raw meat without washing hands in between.

Sago

I was in a queue waiting for an ice cream, the server wore gloves, she served a customer his ice cream, popped a flake on with her gloved hand, she then took a bank note from him and handed him the change, all with gloves on.

I didn’t have an ice cream.

I remember in the butchers you would go to the meat counter for your order then go to a separate counter to pay. No money was handled by the butcher.

Lucky to find a butcher now

This programme is live and they’re cooking in real time fancythat. It makes me wonder what goes on behind the scenes in their restaurant kitchens if they behave like that on tv.

Even when he was seasoning the raw meat he took pinches of salt from the little bowl with his unwashed hands to massage the chops prior to cooking. When they were cooked the same unwashed hands went in to to same container of salt to season the cooked mash before serving.

Grannynannywanny

I enjoy watching Saturday Morning Kitchen most weekends but I’m often surprised at the lack of hand hygiene from top chefs, many of them Michelin star restaurant owners.

This morning Theo Randall cooked veal chops. He prepared the raw chops on a board using his bare hands. Removed the chops from the pan and sliced and preened them with his unwashed hands which had been massaging raw meat a few mins earlier. Not once during the entire process did he wash his hands. He did wipe them in a tea towel which he then tossed onto the worktop while the chops were cooking 🤢

The food was then served up to the celebrity guests.

Gross.

I always imagine there is some "!cutting and pasting" of clips.
But even so.

My grandson has had a part time job cooking chips and making hamburgers at maccas for years. They don’t have to wear gloves here.They do have particular clothes and the food is cooked fresh, they have to throw things away after a fairly short time. Never heard of anyone getting sick through that company, they are fussy. Ghastly food, though !

I enjoy watching Saturday Morning Kitchen most weekends but I’m often surprised at the lack of hand hygiene from top chefs, many of them Michelin star restaurant owners.

This morning Theo Randall cooked veal chops. He prepared the raw chops on a board using his bare hands. Removed the chops from the pan and sliced and preened them with his unwashed hands which had been massaging raw meat a few mins earlier. Not once during the entire process did he wash his hands. He did wipe them in a tea towel which he then tossed onto the worktop while the chops were cooking 🤢

The food was then served up to the celebrity guests.

I know a couple of food places where the staff wear gloves, on in particular a delicatessen they slice cooked meats and handle other produce before wrapping then use the cash register taking money and giving change,defeats the object of wearing gloves.

Wearing gloves does not guarantee complete hygiene unless tge glives are used immediately prior to whatever is to be touched. How can you know if the glove wearer hasn't say, touched their head, a door/drawer handle indeed anything. Surfeins wear gloves but once applied they go directly to "place of business" wuth no contact. Gloves are no guarantee.

Someone once told me that gloves shouldn't be used in a kitchen when using knives because knives can take tiny nicks out of the gloves that can then end up in the food. Chopping a finger end off a glove would probably be seen, but tiny rubber fragments probably wouldn't.

I workd in a school kitchen for many years. Regularly inspected by Environmental Health. We were never required to wear gloves. Frequent hand washing and proper training in food preparation, cross contamination etc. Cross contamination can happen with gloves just as easily as skin.

butterandjam

NotSpaghetti

I am not a glove fan BTW but I note that my mother-in-law's part time carer puts them on after washing her hands to prepare snacks for my mother-in-law - even if she's just putting a biscuit on a plate.

Extra caution, possibly because carers also handle bodies, wee, poo, dressings etc.

That is what I would like.

Extra caution!

escaped

From McDonald's Customer Services .
....

McDonald's restaurant food handlers wash their hands with an antimicrobial soap at least every 30 minutes. Staff who serve or work in the dining area wash their hands at least every hour. We also have teams of employees serving customers and handling money that are separate from those preparing food. A system of colour-coded gloves is used to avoid bare hand contact with raw foods and to handle some ready-to-eat food items.

^It's our policy that hats should be worn by all food handlers. Hair must be kept under the hat and away from the face, and styled or tied back so that it is close to the head. Hairnets may be required for hairstyles that do not fit completely under the hat.^

A bit more reassuring.

A poster upthread [sorry, cant find the post right now] mentioned food hygiene certifcates.
I shall be on the look out for them, from now on.

But surely, if anywhere is below a 3 or whatever she wrote, then they couldnt operate anyway?

I prefer hands, I wash mine before touching each different food, however I don’t dry them each time. The people wearing gloves don’t wash between touching one sort of food to another.
English people would die in the queue while watching my French chicken stall holder and his assistants, gloved or not. Raw chicken is being handled and then, without a pause by the single cold tap, to scoop out a slice of pâté from a bowl before taking the money and the serving the next customer. The only food poisoning I hear about are from the industrial package food.

From McDonald's Customer Services .
....

McDonald's restaurant food handlers wash their hands with an antimicrobial soap at least every 30 minutes. Staff who serve or work in the dining area wash their hands at least every hour. We also have teams of employees serving customers and handling money that are separate from those preparing food. A system of colour-coded gloves is used to avoid bare hand contact with raw foods and to handle some ready-to-eat food items.

It's our policy that hats should be worn by all food handlers. Hair must be kept under the hat and away from the face, and styled or tied back so that it is close to the head. Hairnets may be required for hairstyles that do not fit completely under the hat.

It is not just the gloves issue - I hate to see loose hair - men or women - and beards with no beard net! I imagine the hairs that could end up in the food!! Megan Markle take note!!!

Don't go to Mac Donalds,easy peasy.

escaped

But chefs are artisans, those who flip burgers are not.
Chefs need bare hands to touch food to check the texture and to arrange delicate foods on the plate. They rarely use gloves when using sharp knives. If hygiene is good, why would they need to wear gloves?
I guess handling raw burgers then touching the lettuce or relish could be seen as an issue in the likes of McDonald's. I've never been overly worried in service stations, airports, train stations though, and more importantly never been ill.

The staff all have a food handling and food hygiene certificates.

Those dealing with the raw food are not normally those dealing with cooked.

It feels somehow ‘safe’ to see catering folk wearing gloves, but I’m not convinced they are ‘better’. Thirty years ago, my friend, then a head at a primary school told me that some research (I can’t recall the evidence) had stated that school kitchens should not wear rubber gloves when washing utensils as they were unhygienic. Maybe the new disposable ones are more hygienic but I’d prefer clean scrubbed hands. Only issue is, does everybody wash their hands like we should? I fear not.

They don't have to wear gloves, and in many cases it's less clean if they do because they never wash their hands and rarely changed gloves in between everything. I'd rather no gloves and strict handwashing.

A peck o' dirt afore ye die was a saying of my childhood and ofcourse hygiene is important, especially in a restaurant kitchen, but being too fussy when bringing up children can lead to neuroses later on.

I'm currently living with a psychotherapist who tells me these things

We were away and needed to eat, the only place we could find that could rustle up something gluten free was a local Subway. The staff were all wearing gloves - and the server was meticulous in changing gloves to avoid any cross contamination and it all looked immaculate.

They should have a Food Hygiene Rating from the local Council. If it’s under 3 definitely don’t eat there. Best is 5. If you feel somewhere is not operating hygienically report it to the LA.